The present invention relates to hinge and latch systems, and in particular to hinge and latch systems for livestock facilities.
In a typical livestock facility there are many swinging containment gates with latching devices attached to stationary posts, building walls or other stationary fixtures, which are components of containment pens or access ways, also known as alley ways, for facility personnel and livestock. Alley ways are used to move livestock from containment pens to other locations within the facility. The conventional design of a livestock gate latching device is mounted to a fixture and consists of several components that are welded together. Conventional gate latching devices may be interconnected to posts, gate ends, or brackets that may be attached to other stationary fixtures.
The conventional design of gate latching device components are individually manufactured and interconnected to a post, gate, or bracket by bolting, welding or other methods as a means to provide a secure gate latch. The conventional gate latching components have horizontal edges and corners which protrude outward from the vertical surfaces of the post, bracket, or other stationary fixture to which they are mounted. These protrusions have been found to cause personal injury to facility workers and lacerations or bruising to livestock.
Conventional gate latching devices use a security latch system which requires a formed angle security latch to be manually rotated away from the latch tabs before the gate can be inserted or removed from the latching device, and the formed angle security latch must be manually returned to its original position to prevent the gate from being opened by the livestock. If the formed angle security latch is not returned to its original position the gate could be easily opened again by livestock simply pushing up and out on the gate.